Apparatus for scouring water-ways



(No Model.)

'2 Sheets-Sheet 1'.

E. G. HOLDEN. APPARATUS FOR SGOURING WATER WAYS.

No. 449,479. Patented Mar. 31, 1891.

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By JQM @4 WITNESSES No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2.

E. G. HOLDEN. I APPARATUS FOR SGOURING WATER WAYS.

Patented Mar. 31,1891.

A TTOHNEYS UNITED STATES PATEN prion.

ELBRIDGE G. HOLDEN, OF FULTON, TEXAS.

APPARATUS FOR SCOURING WATER-WAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,479, dated March 31, 1891.

Application filed November 17, 1890. $erial No. 371,682. (No model.)

T0 at whom it 11mg concern.-

Be it known that I, ELBRIDGE G. HOLDEN, of Fulton, in the county of Aransas and State of Texas, have invented a new and Improved Apparatus for ScouringWater-Ways, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an apparatus for dredging or scouring water-ways, for forming or deepening channels or increasing depth of water at docks or other landing-places, or for kindred work; and the invention has for its object to facilitate these operations by a simple and comparatively inexpensive and very efficient apparatus, which assures excellent results with economy of time and labor.

The invention will first be described, and then will be particularly defined in claims hereinafter set forth.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is an end view of my improved dredging apparatus as applied to a vessel or float in the preferred manner of carrying out the invention, parts being broken away. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the said apparatus, partly broken away. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail side view, partly broken away and in section, of the outer end of the laterally-projecting boom and a portion of the pipes which it supports. Fig. 4 is a view taken at right angles to Fig. 3 and shows the preferred mode of weighting the water and air discharge pipes of the apparatus to hold them in operative position at the river-bed.

Although my improved dredging apparatus may be advantageously worked when erected on the shore or bank of a river or stream or upon a pier jutting into a water-way, I prefer to arrange the apparatus upon a vessel or float A to secure manifest advantages in moving it to its work, and I purpose that the vessel shall have powerful engines and screws or other means of propulsion, allowing it to be used as a tug-boat when not in service as a dredger.

On the vessel are set up any desired number of water-pumps or forcing devices B,

I taking a supply through suction-pipes I), hung over the side of the vessel, and there are also provided any desired number of air-pumps or forcing devices 0, set up, preferably, near the water-forcing devices. Pipes D E con,- nect with the discharge openings of the pumps B C, respectively, and are adapted to discharge water and air at or near the bottom F of the water-way. The invention would be operative were one water-discharge pipe D and one air-discharge pipe E employed; but it is entirely practicable and much preferable to use a number of these pipes operating simultaneously upon the river-bed. When but two pipes D E are used, they would simply hang down over the side of the vessel or other support to near the bottom, whereat they would have suitable nozzles discharging water and air forcibly at or near the bottom; but when series of the water and air pipes are employed with a vessel or float I prefer to arrange the pipes as shown in the drawings and as next described.

From each side of the vessel or float a boom or platform or frame G, of any suitable character, is projected, say for twenty feet,'more or less, and is supported approximately level by a suitable rod'stay g, which extends to the mast a of the vessel, and from the outer end of the boom a couple of stay wires, ropes, or chains g g extend forward and aft to the vessel and are secured to cleats or chocks thereon and prevent horizontal swaying of the boom. The booms G G are each adapted to sustain two lines of pipes H I, which lead, respectively, from the discharge-pipes D E of the water and air forcing devices B O on the vessel, the pipes H being preferably nearer the bows of the vessel than the pipes I.

At uniform distances apart the pipes II I are provided with T-couplings 72, 't', respectively, and at their extremities the pipes have elbow-fittings h t", by which couplings and fittings series of pendent and preferably flexible water and air discharge pipes J K are suspended from the boom-supported pipes H I, respectively. The couplings of the pipes J K are so located in relatively staggered positions as to cause the water and air discharge pipes J K to hang alternately in outward range from the sides of the vessel, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

Each of the water and air discharge pipes J K is provided with a substantial metal nozzle L, which is formed or provided with a couple of encircling rings or collars Z Z, which confine against vertical movement a suitable weight, which holds the nozzle in about vertical suspended position, notwithstanding the force of the currents or eddies of the water-way in which the apparatus is employed. This weight preferably consists of one or more lateral arms M M, held to the nozzle L between its collars H, and preferably by half-bearings m m, which together encircle the nozzle and have flanges, through which bolts m pass to hold the two oppositely-projecting arms to each other and to the nozzle; but, if desired, both arms M M may be cast in one piece or bar with a central eye to he slipped onto the nozzle and retained in any approved way.

From the outer ends of the arms M chains N are suspended, and from these chains suitable weights 0 are hung, as most clearly shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. Instead of these arms and weights M N O, a series of weights P may be placed directly upon the nozzle, as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings; but the arm and chain supported weights are much preferable, as the weights hang at considerable distance from each side of the nozzle and give it greater vertical steadiness in the current of the waterway or upon the bottom or bed thereof when the apparatus is in use.

To each of the nozzles L is fixed a suitable eye or loop a", to which is connected one end of a rope or wire cable R, which leads to the side of the vessel or float and in reach of at tendants, who by hauling on or slacking off the ropes may adjust every nozzle of the'water and air discharge pipes to give them the best execution in removing the sand or clay from the river bottom or bed. The pipes J K being flexible not only permit of such adjustment, but allow the operation to be carried on during heavy seas and rough weather, for as the vessel rises and falls on the waves the flexible pipes will be straightened out or bent without injury, and, furthermore, the vessel may be propelled backward or forward, and the flexible pipes will adapt themselves to the change and will not foul with the boat-pro peller.

The drawings re presentfive water-discharge pipes J and five air-discharge pipes K, arranged at each side of the vessel or float, ten pipes being suspended from the pipes H-I on each boom G, and the pipes hang at about two feet apart, which gives them great effectiveness in joint operation at the river or water- I way bed. Any number of pipes may, how-- ever, be employed, as the capacity of the water and air-forcing machinery of the vessel may make practicable.

simple and effective. As the vessel is slowly moved forward while the water and air forcing pumps or devices 15 O' are working, jets of water will be forced from the nozzles L of the pipes J, while strong currents of air are discharged from the nozzles L of the pipes K, and as the sand or clay particles are dislodged from the river-bed by the direct force of the water-jets the air-jets will agitate and scatter and lift the dislodged particles and float them much higher and longer than would be the case were the water-jet pipes alone used. Hence the natural currents or eddies of the water-way have a very much better chance to carry off the buoyant or floating particles, which are thus flirt-ed upward by the air-jets, and the dredging operation will proceed much more quickly and satisfactorily than would be possible by sole action or effect of the water-jets alone on the river-bed, and herein lies the peculiar advantages of my improved method and apparatus.

I consider that the arrangement of the duplex series of water and air jet pipes and their respective pumping or forcing apparatus at both sides of the vessel or float is important, as it balances theload or preserves equilibrium of the vessel and makes the dredging operation much quicker and less expensive.

The operative effect of this apparatus would be substantially the same were it set upon a fixed bulk-head or jutting-pier support where the natural currents and eddies of the water-way are strong enough to carry off the particles dislodged by the water-jets and floated higher than usual by the air-jets, as will readily be understood.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isr 1. An attachment for tugs and other vessels, consisting in a horizontal boom or frame adapted to be connected at its innerend with a vessel, two pipes extending along said boom, flexible pipes depending from said two pipes and provided at their lower ends with discharge-nozzles,and separate pumps or forcing apparatus connected to the inner ends of said two first-named pipes and adapted to force air and water, respectively, therethrough and out of the said nozzles, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in a dredging apparatus, of a fioat or support, water and airpumps or forcing devices thereon, a laterally proj ecting boom on said support, pipes connected to the water and air forcing devices and sustained bythe boom, and pipes pendent from the boom-supported pipes and discharging water and air, respectively, at or near the bottom of a water-way, substantially as described.

3. The combination, in a dredging appara tus, of a float or support, water and air pumps or forcing devices thereon, a laterallyproject- I ing boom on said support, pipes connected to The operation of the apparatus is very 4. The combination, in a dredging apparatus, of a vessel or float, Water and air pumps or forcing devices thereon, a lateral boom projecting from each side of said vessel or float, pipes connected to the water and air pumps or forcing devices and sustained by the booms, and pipes pendent from the boom-supported pipes and discharging water and air, respectively, at or near the bottom of a waterway at or from both sides of the vessel or float, substantially as described.

5. I11 dredging apparatus, the combination, with a vessel, float, or support, and water and air forcing devices thereon having discharge pipes D E, respectively, of a laterally-supported boom G, projecting from said support,

ELBRID GE G. HOLDEN.

Witnesses:

HENRY L. Goonwnv, EDGAR TATE. 

